The average price of a building plot in France in 2011 was €63m², an increase of 7.6% over 2010.

Behind the headline figure lie substantial regional differences, with prices ranging from €18m² in the Limousin to an average of €179m² in the Île-de-France.

Prices also reflect their proximity to urban centres and their size, with the price in the largest cities averaging €121m², although in Paris itself prices rose to an average of €264m².

By contrast, in rural areas prices averaged €43.5m².

The figures come from the annual review of building land prices carried out by the statistical service of the French government.

The table below gives a breakdown of plot prices and sizes by region. Neither are likely to be representative of the prices paid by most international buyers, the majority of whom purchase larger building plots in favoured locations.

However, the figures are the best available and they do serve as a benchmark to use when purchasing land for building.

The differences in the prices of building plots meant that, while in Paris and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur the cost of building land was nearly half of the total cost of constructing a house, in most other areas it was around one third of the total cost.

The following graphic shows the average percentage of land cost to total construction cost for each region of France. As can be seen, the highest ratio of land to total cost was in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, at 47%.